Finding my Religion
by Balin Lord of Moria
Summary: A story of sorts about the religious philosophies of the Jedi and how they relate to their adventures. Includes Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and the "Young Jedi," among others. This shows that all the world's religions are true, as George Lucas believes.
1. A Catholic Jedi

**A/N: **This is not meant to contradict my other recent fanfic, **Grace Stumbled Upon at the Gathering**. It's simply another POV on Star Wars Jedi and religious philosophies, only on a much broader scale. What each Jedi believes in, and how it ties in with some, many or all of the tenets of a Christian denomination or non-Christian religion. Hopefully, I won't write anything here to offend anyone, because that isn't my intention. If I do, I apologize in advance, and I'll try to fix it, if I can.

I'm doing my best to make this as much like a story as possible, because I think it would garner a lot more attention on FanFiction than on FictionPress.

**Disclaimer:** Neither the Clone Wars nor the religions are mine.

* * *

He always was a Jedi of actions.

Of course, he _did_ believe in the Force and its power and abilities with all his heart and soul, as a Force-user should. Without faith in the Force, a Force-user might as well _not_ be a Force-user.

But he was also a man of action. This was why he had wanted to be a Jedi Guardian when he passed his training, so that he could help people by actually doing good deeds, rather than sitting around contemplating nature and waiting for the Force to do things for him.

This was also what made him one of the most efficient (and caring) militant Jedi in the Order, making him the ideal General for the 501st Legion.

He also disagreed with the belief that Jedi should not be married, although he had to keep this a secret, because the attachment-hating Jedi Council had so much authority in the Jedi Order. He had married Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo, because he believed having a Jedi family _should_ be a sacrament among the Jedi, bringing about new generations of Jedi without having to take children from their parents, willing or unwilling. He saw the abduction of children to be stealing, and that was something that was as wrong as dishonesty.

He even believed in the reverence of ancient Jedi Knights who did things that were very commendable in the eyes of the Force. Maybe it was because he knew that he was susceptible to the wiles of the dark side, but he especially liked learning about Jedi who had had brushes with evil, like Ulic Qel-Droma, Revan, and Bastila Shan, and some Jedi who had helped redeem them, like Nomi and Vima Sunrider, another legendary Jedi family. According to his beliefs, the spirits of ancient Jedi could empower those of the living, even though he wasn't so sure of the possibility of the immortality of his closest friends, like his mother, Padmé, and Ahsoka Tano.

So, then, what would one suppose Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, would use as a religious philosophy?

He was a Catholic.

How? Why? He was a believer in ancient Jedi sacraments like marriage, rather than the newer, man-made rules of the Council, and he showed reverence to the Jedi saints, unlike most other Jedi of his time. These are similar to Catholic practices.

He believed that the Force, the "god" of the Jedi, was always in charge of what happened everywhere in the galaxy, and that things must turn out for the better, not the worse.

Most of all, though, what made him like a Catholic Jedi was his commitment to actions and good deeds. In Catholicism, good deeds were needed as well as faith in order to achieve salvation, and Anakin knew that faith without actions is worthless.

He knew this several times during the Clone Wars. When R2-D2 saved him, his men, and his Padawan from being trapped in a self-destructing space station, it was the right thing to do to rescue the sentient little droid from the destruction, too. When Luminara Unduli seemed to give up on Barriss Offee and Ahsoka when they were trapped within a destroyed fortress, Anakin chastised her for it, and worked hard to get them out himself. And there were many other instances where this happened, as well.

"Everything happened for a reason. Nothing happened by accident." That was what Qui-Gon Jinn had once told him and his mother on Tatooine when he was freed from slavery.

Even so, though, even he wondered sometimes why the Force allowed, or even enforced, bad things happening in the galaxy. Though he didn't yet know his future as Darth Vader, somehow he knew that even the Force didn't always play fair.

But at least, when Anakin Skywalker did something wrong and he knew it, he confessed it and tried to do better next time, even in front of the stuffy Jedi Council.

Through and through, he was a Catholic Jedi.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm not Catholic. I'm Lutheran. So even though I know a lot about Catholicism, it was tricky to get this right with Anakin, because my knowledge of Catholics isn't encyclopedic. I still hope you like this, though.


	2. An Anglican Jedi

**A/N:** I hope you like this one as much or more than the last one.

* * *

He was an Anglican Jedi.

He firmly believed in the Force, indeed.

He also believed, though, that marriage was not altogether necessary, even though he once had a love relationship of sorts with Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore. He believed that a Jedi could take an interest in a woman (or a man), but that he/she should always be prepared to divorce their relationship with their lover in order to live by the Jedi Code.

This is the principal reason that Obi-Wan Kenobi adhered to the philosophy of the Anglican faith.

Obi-Wan always needed something to believe in, and because of his Force-sensitivity, the Force gave him that something. He believed, too, as did Catholics like Anakin, that deeds were necessary in order to find favor with the Force as much as faith in its power was.

Despite their differences in lifestyle and handling themselves as Jedi Knights, Anakin and Obi-Wan had a lot in common when it came to their theological philosophies.

However, he had almost given up on his faith at least twice in his life.

His old adversary, Darth Maul, had murdered Satine right in front of him, and as Satine promised she would always love him before she died, Obi-Wan felt like he had lost a wonderful opportunity, and wondered if he should have left the Jedi Order for her when he had the chance. A large part of him had been torn away, and he began to think that the Force was not with him at the time, despite his unwavering faith in it. It took days for him to recover enough to return to his normal self.

The other time, though, was even more devastating for him. That was the day Order 66 was executed. He didn't just lose a lover he let go of when he should've held on to her. He lost massive hosts of friends to their deaths by turncoat clone troopers, and the enemy who controlled the clones rose to a seat of such power that he could ravage the entire galaxy in any way he saw fit. Worse still, his own brother and former student, Anakin, turned to the dark side, helped Palpatine and the clones destroy the Jedi, and became the fearsome and seemingly invincible enforcer of the Emperor's Empire.

To Obi-Wan, it felt like the Force was now with the Sith and their indomitable military instead of the Jedi and the galaxy's innocents. _Why do the vile human citizens of the Empire get to live in peace and safety, while those who don't like the Empire, human and alien alike, have to suffer and die because of crimes most of them never truly committed? _He often asked himself this question while in exile on Tatooine.

But still, as painful as this whole process was, he knew that the Force had a plan for the salvation of the galaxy and the damnation of the Empire. After all, since Anglicanism isn't that much different from Catholicism, he was aware that the Force was making these things happen for a reason. It would work out for the better in the end.

And anyway, it wasn't just the Jedi who were committing good deeds. The fledgling Rebellion would save many people, and they might be held in even higher regard than Jedi like himself.

_Shouldn't that be enough for me?_

* * *

**A/N:** I admit, I'm not an expert on Anglicanism, either, but I did what I could. I'll keep trying to improve this as I go along. I hope you liked it again.


	3. A Jewish Young Jedi

The human boy was a Jewish Jedi, and he was proud of it.

The religious philosophy of the Jews had always seemed like something to take pride in, though not arrogance, because it was like being part of a people who were chosen by the Force for great destinies that would bless the entire galaxy.

Like Jews and their God, Petro the youngling believed that the Force had a covenant of some kind with the Jedi, turning them into a thing that was a physical manifestation of the Force, like Master Yoda had once told him and his clan. He knew, according to the Jewish philosophy, that a person's soul, or spirit, was from the Force, and their body was from one of the many earths that populated galactic space.

Free will was something the Jedi possessed, too, the choice of the light side or the dark side, and he didn't want to fail the Force or himself, so he strived for the light. And yet, there was a problem he had with his philosophy.

He was aware that all Jedi must accept that the Force made or allowed everything to happen for a reason, because it had a will of its own, and that will controlled the affairs of the galaxy, both good and bad alike. However, Petro never could understand how the Force, which was supposed to be on the side of good, would not only allow, but support, the atrocities that so many people committed on a daily basis, including the Sith, the Separatists, Death Watch, and the countless bounty hunters and assassins that stalked the population of the galaxy without remorse.

It was this that made him so eager to get his crystal at the Gathering and construct his lightsaber. He was thinking about these things when he first completed his lightsaber (incorrectly and with haste), and said, "With this lightsaber, I'm gonna challenge Obi-Wan Kenobi to a duel and kill Grievous!"

But he also had to learn that his own impulsiveness and hotheaded eagerness for battle were part of his own problems. He was selfish in his belief that he knew better than the Force did what was good for the galaxy, and that he could achieve everything by himself. In a way, Petro was, in his private thoughts and heart, a little like the Jewish figure, Job, because although he rarely did it aloud, like Job did, he secretly questioned why the Force let all these terrible things happen all around the galaxy, especially since he suspected, (correctly, as it happened, due to Order 66 and the reign of the Empire,) that the worst was yet to come.

Yet the Force never did address Petro's complaints directly. Instead, it shifted the blame back on him for his lack of faith in the divine providence of the will of the Force. This frustrated him to no end, but he knew he had to get over it somehow, or else he would be no good to anyone as a Jedi. He might even fall to the dark side and work against the Force's will.

Perhaps what kept him going was his belief that the spirit of a Jedi finds some sort of life in the Force. And even without the joys of physical life, like eating, drinking, training, playing, or swordfighting, he was aware that all Jedi who stayed with the light would stand basking in the radiance of the divine Force.

One more reason why he accepted the Jewish way of life, though, was the Jews' always having been an army for God, according to the history books. As a warrior of the Force, Petro wanted to fight the bad guys with the unbeatable might of the Force at his back, kind of like King David.

And now, as he held his ignited lightsaber with his fellow younglings, Petro was sure that he would win the fight in the end.

After all, that's the life of a Jew.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope I wrote this to the readers' satisfaction. I care about the Jews; I am not anti-Semetic.


	4. A Muslim Young Jedi

"Islam" was a word Katooni always loved.

It meant "submission to God," and while the Force wasn't exactly a "god," it _was_ what the Jedi served above all else, so she believed the name could apply to reverence for the Force, too, or at least, for her personally.

As a follower of the Muslim way of life, Katooni believed that there was nothing to worship but the Force, and that there was a person at some point during the existence of the Jedi Order who served as its prophet. Unlike the Muslims, however, she wasn't entirely sure who the prophet was, though she suspected that one possibility was the great maverick Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, whom she adored very much.

The Jedi were the noblest of creatures to her, or at least they were supposed to be, but they were flawed and full of faults, too, and vulnerable to temptation. She could understand why many people in the galaxy mistrusted or hated the Jedi Order, because most Jedi made at least a few mistakes in life. Katooni also believed that the Force, even with its impersonal nature and mysterious will, was merciful and compassionate, and expected the Jedi who served it to be the same. That was why she wanted to follow in the footsteps of her senior Tholothian Jedi Masters, Adi Gallia and Stass Allie, who were both Jedi Healers. She wanted to serve the underserved, and to feed the poor and care for orphans. True, she had her lightsaber ready for combat, but she preferred the life of a Jedi Consular to that of a Guardian.

She strove to be perfect in everything she said and did, because like Catholic Christians, Muslims believed in a mix of true repentance of their faults and sins, and a lifetime of actions in service to good instead of evil.

Even so, Katooni could commit what she believed was the cardinal sin of being a Muslim Jedi: she didn't always have strong confidence in her abilities to believe in the Force's power to make her do things. She couldn't find enough confidence in the Force to help her get her crystal, escape the crystal caves, or build her lightsaber, even though she did ultimately succeed in all three of those things.

But despite this fault, she knew that the tests and the suffering that often went with them were necessary, because Jedi were tested and tried every day of their lives, and great Jedi were created only by the endurance of their tests and trials with hope and faith. And unlike Petro, Katooni did not resist or question the Force or its will, ever, but accepted them and lived through it all with faith that the Force never asked any more of her than she could endure. But Katooni had once told Master Allie: "When I become a more well-educated Padawan, I want to be a healer, like you, because I want to lift the suffering of others, because all creatures suffer sometimes, including you and me, and if suffering is a consequence of unbelief in the Force, then I want to do non-violent good works to relieve both others' pain as well as my own."

She even had faith that the just would receive a reward of some sort after death, though it was as unclear to her what it was as it was to all other Jedi, and that the unjust would suffer for their atrocities even worse than those they made suffer had suffered in the physical plane.

Most of all, though, she wanted to see the Jedi Order rise above its present complacency, so that it would be able to bring about the right kind of political order the galaxy needed, just like Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, acted as a lawgiver for the early Muslim community. She once announced to Master Gallia her view that she didn't like the way Chancellor Palpatine, the Galactic Senate, and the Republic Military were handling bringing order back to the galaxy. She said it was very un-Muslim-like, and very much against the will of the Force.

Katooni would believe to the end of her days (and beyond) that Islam was the philosophy most proper for a Jedi.

* * *

**A/N:** Once again, I've done my best to show the utmost respect for Islam. I think all right-hand path religions, religions that adhere to universal morals, ethics and practices, have the potential to be right in the eyes of God (left-hand path religions are hedonistic, self-centered, and corrupt religions like Satanism, and I will be doing none of them in this fanfic).


	5. An ELCA Lutheran Young Jedi

She was Lutheran.

More specifically, she was a Lutheran who adhered to the beliefs of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

As a Jedi, she had grown up without religion. And yet, it was obvious to everyone who knew her, that she was a liberal Lutheran Jedi.

Ganodi, the Rodian youngling, had found the ELCA as a member of her clan, and it had strengthened after her trials on Ilum and the adventures with Hondo Ohnaka. The people who practiced the ELCA's philosophy were a broad group of people, and they were amazingly caring and understanding. She had felt the same way with the Jedi Masters who instructed her, as well as her fellow younglings. Everyone from Tera Sinube to her pal Katooni was like a best friend to her, perhaps even like a brother and sister.

She had some interesting beliefs as a Jedi who did things in the Order the liberal way. Like all Jedi Initiates, she had read _The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force_, the "bible" of the Jedi Order, but it was her opinion that it wasn't a perfect book, and that it could be improved upon, though she also believed that for the present, it was the source and norm for a Jedi's life, much like the ELCA belief that the Bible was the Christian source and norm, but not infallible.

Ganodi was also of the belief that the Force was truly present "in, with, and under" a Jedi's lightsaber, and that the lightsaber was more than just an impersonal tool to keep handy in case of a scuffle, a skirmish, or a war. She had held this opinion ever since the ancient droid Professor Huyang told her and her crèche mates that a lightsaber was a Jedi's only true ally, and that the lightsaber gave life to her kaiburr crystal she found in the crystal caves on Ilum. A lightsaber was more than just a weapon, more than a symbol, more even than an extension of a Jedi's body. It was a living, breathing companion of a Jedi Knight in her service to the poor and the suffering.

As an ELCA Lutheran, she also approved of women being in positions of authority, believing, as many in the Jedi Order did, that the Force supported and even encouraged this, just as the ELCA denomination advocated women in the clergy. As Ganodi was approaching puberty, despite the Jedi rule of non-attachment, she felt like she might be a lesbian, as she was attracted more to females, especially Rodians, obviously, than to males; this was one reason Katooni was her best pal in her youngling clan. She suspected that Master Yoda and the others on the Jedi Council would learn of this eventually, but she wanted to stand up for the right of gays and lesbians, with or without attachments, to have special roles in the Order, too.

Like almost all Christians, Lutheran or otherwise, Ganodi didn't approve of cloning, and was one of several people who dared to question the Council about the creation and acceptance of the Grand Army of the Republic. However, once again, as an ELCA Lutheran Jedi, it was her opinion that since the clones were created anyway, they should have full acceptance as human beings and as much access to the rites of the Force as any ordinary being.

A more controversial belief she held as a Jedi was that abortion of an unborn child was mostly wrong, but sometimes saw it as morally responsible, like if the infant wasn't fully developed as a recognizable baby, and the pregnancy presented a clear threat to the life of the woman. Less controversially, she was altogether against euthanasia.

Her most profound belief as a Lutheran, however, was one of the most important tenets of Lutheran Protestantism.

Ganodi had almost despaired of finding her kaiburr crystal in the crystal caves, but she placed her faith in the Force, and asked it to guide her to the right one, and it did. All she had to do was send a meditative wish to the Force, and it helped her achieve her little quest. She felt safer, and more hopeful of a good outcome, when she didn't need to depend on the imperfect, like herself and those around her alike.

This was not unlike the Lutheran faith in Jesus as the only way to be saved from one's sins, and Ganodi thought that with the Force privately forgiving her for her faults and being there for her, always, would mean her own salvation as a weak, yet strong, Jedi.

She was content.

And she was happy.

* * *

**A/N:** There will be another Lutheran chapter at some point in the future, which will be from the POV of either the LCMS or the WELS, more likely the former. I know that there is ELCA bashing and LCMS praising splashed all over the internet, and I kindly request that no one flame me for my chapter that looks at the ELCA in a positive light. But worry not; I am going to be equally fair with the LCMS/WELS when its turn comes in this fanfic. Thank you!


	6. A Buddhist Jedi

One would not be surprised to learn that he was a Buddhist.

They always said that he bore a basic resemblance to a Buddha figure, what with his short, small body, his humble meditation robes, and the contemplative expression that was usually on his face, like that of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, himself.

But Grand Master Yoda knew that there was a lot more to being a Buddhist than merely looking like one.

He had lived a very long life, close to nine hundred years old by the time of the Clone Wars, and this seemed like both a blessing and a curse simultaneously.

It was a blessing because he had seen and heard more things than most other Jedi, had plenty of time to meditate on the wisdom of the Force, and understood many of the mysteries of the galaxy as a result.

It was also a curse, too, because in his long life, like any other Jedi, he had hated as well as loved much, and had killed many people, usually out of necessity, but sometimes out of foolishness when he was much younger, which he still looked back on in regret sometimes, in private. He had also witnessed many more tragedies than most other Jedi, and he could sense the coming darkness more strongly than any other, too.

It was largely because of his witnessing so much suffering, plus his firm belief than one should not attach her/himself to a galaxy full of suffering, that he was an admirer and follower of the Buddha. To Yoda, all life was suffering, and one of the things he believed a person, especially a Jedi, must do to deal with it was to feel the flow of the Force and how it could take away one's self, leaving them free of suffering and able to transform into the nirvana that was the Force. This, Yoda thought, was the ultimate peace and harmony within the mystical energy field.

Perhaps this was why he was one of the less social of the Jedi in the Old Jedi Order; he was content with living merely with the Force, the non-sentient creatures of a natural planet (as opposed to artificial, like Coruscant), and the peace and pleasure of the past. Maybe that was why he was so content in exile on Dagobah, while most of the rest of the galaxy went through unspeakable suffering at the same time.

This, of course, did not endear him to most of the non-Force sensitive citizens of the galaxy, not even after the founding of the New Jedi Order, because some people, particularly non-Buddhists, blamed him for living in comfort and peace while they went through perpetual anguish for decades, anguish that still wouldn't end, ever.

But that was another story. And besides, Yoda believed that the galaxy, in turn, was a little narrow-minded for not considering the possibility of the rightness of non-attachment, meditation, and brave resistance of evil that Buddhism preaches. The old Jedi Master also thought that he was a lot more kind than so many people gave him credit for, because Siddhartha Gautama had once said that his religion, Buddhism, "is very simple. My religion is kindness." He said that people should learn to be more kind to one another.

But most important of all, this little man of an anonymous species followed the Buddhist philosophy because it was also the ultimate path to personal enlightenment. It was Yoda's opinion that ignorance in any form was a bad thing, and he constantly sought for more knowledge on the mysteries of the Force. Without enlightenment, he said, a Jedi would not know what the Force was truly about, or what its will was. This was the main reason that Qui-Gon Jinn's spirit's offer of training him to retain consciousness in the physical plane had appealed so much to Yoda, because with infinite time, he would ultimately learn the infinite mysteries of the Force.

Sadly, however, if what he said about the "Jedi nirvana" was true, and that others transformed into an energy field after death while he had eternity to enjoy conscious life, then countless people would be extremely envious of him and his privilege.

Nonetheless, Yoda still mastered the Buddhist train of thought better than anybody else in the known galaxy, and it couldn't be denied that he would be long remembered, whether through love, reverence, envy, or hate.


	7. A Wiccan Jedi

One would think that witchcraft would not be welcome within the Jedi Order.

One would think that this sort of magic would be part of the dark sorcery the Order of the Sith Lords practiced.

Even so, this spirituality was practiced by at least one prominent Jedi during the Clone Wars, and that was Aayla Secura.

The athletic Twi'lek Jedi said that Wicca was "very empowering," and a blessing for the feminine side of the Jedi Order. She was aware that some of the people of the worlds she had aided thought of her as a goddess figure, but she believed that the true goddess was that of the Wiccan witches. There was no creed, which meant that she didn't have to subscribe to any special doctrines about the divine goddess. Even more so, she liked that Wicca was without dogma imposed by higher authority, but instead depended on an expression of the values within the hearts of the witches and other followers.

Although Aayla was a born warrior, and thus a Jedi Guardian, she did not revel in war, or even in small skirmishes, and that's one place where her Wiccan philosophy helped her. Every time she had a chance to meditate on the Living Force, she reached out to block out the random noise that was war and mayhem, and achieve the musical harmony that the vibration of the Force provided. And although not _as_ dedicated to the environment as, say, Ki-Adi-Mundi, or an Ithorian Jedi, she knew she had a great responsibility of control over the wellbeing and protection of nature.

As a Jedi who cared greatly for people who were suffering or in trouble, as well as someone who once had a partial attachment to Jedi Masters Kit Fisto and Quinlan Vos and a friendship with Clone Commander Bly, Aayla knew that love united the divine and the entirety of life. All things were sacred, and all beings were equal.

Once, as a youth, she had lost a pet she had loved dearly to death when she couldn't heal it, and she had cried over her loss, saying that her dear T'da was "gone forever." However, her Master, Quinlan Vos, had helped her learn that her beloved was now a part of the Force, and that they would be reunited one day, and that it would always live on in Aayla's heart. Ever since, she knew that nothing could be lost, and that a living thing's essence continued somehow after death, though exactly how it did was unknown until one's own death. Wicca preaches something very similar to this, and Aayla thought that made the religion even more fitting to her. Nothing lived forever, but nothing died forever, either.

That which served life was all that was worthy of veneration; this was another belief of most of the Jedi, because the Jedi existed to protect life and make peace, even if they _had_ been drawn into the role of being soldiers by the Clone Wars. To harm anyone meant for a Jedi to harm their own souls as well as their own reputations, which was hard to hold up in the war, and joy was supposed to be a sacrament; all of these things were true of Wicca, too. But because of the Clone Wars, her awareness of these tenets brought a lot of guilt and pain to Aayla's conscience often. A Wiccan was supposed to be at peace and harmony with the world, serve the public and private good, preserve life rather than destroy it, and enjoy life overall, as well as hold true to the belief in the divine goddess. In this war, though, she was often forced to compromise these virtues and do questionable things. Admittedly, she herself didn't do nearly as many bad things as a lot of other Jedi did during the war, but it still wasn't comforting that her fellow Jedi were doing worse than she was, because that meant that many of them were going over to the dark side, from whence there may or may not be any return.

But still, she was glad that she could still hear the voice of the Force. Many other Jedi had lost that ability due to the pollution of the effects of war. The Force spoke to her through her heart. And as a Wiccan Jedi, the heart – as the voice of the divine – was her highest authority. As long as she paid attention to it, she would be able to minimize her wrongful actions.

She was a Wiccan witch, and she found it "very empowering."

* * *

**A/N:** Not everyone believes that Wicca is a good religion, but I included it here at a request of a guest reviewer, and to show that Wicca is _not_ the same as Satanism. Please don't flame me for that.


End file.
